


R-e-i-j-i

by mizael



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 21:05:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3502736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizael/pseuds/mizael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Misspellings apparently attract boyfriends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	R-e-i-j-i

**Author's Note:**

> i'm akayuu trash and welcome to my crib  
> THIS IS 3K WORDS OF EMBARRASSMENT

It is the ungodly hour of 6 AM in the middle of January when Yuuya Sakaki falls asleep at the counter he’s supposed to be working.

It’s a Monday morning, and his shifts usually take place sometime in the late evening, when he’s exhausted from class and his lungs cry for salvation but he hates himself just enough to crawl to work. Yuuya doesn’t work morning shifts. He’s out of the door by ten, and in bed by eleven. The coffeehouse just opens too early for his tastes.

Yuuto’s phantom voice jolts him awake.

_"I’m sorry, I can’t make tomorrow’s shift because of some personal business. Could you take over for me?"_

And because Yuuya Sakaki was nice, he said yes.

He sighs and thumps his head back on the counter, wondering why he thought it was such a good idea in the first place. Surely Yuuto couldn’t have called someone else? Like Yuuzu? Or Shun?

(They’d probably have turned him down.)

"The usual, please."

The sound of a customer’s voice makes Yuuya jump.

"Y-Yes? Sorry?"

"You’re not Yuuto."

"No…"

The man in front of him frowns just slightly, but not enough to make a difference in his otherwise  ~~attractive~~  stoic features.

He’s wearing a crisp business suit, all pinstripes and designer labels. The only color on his person besides the incessant black and white was the red tie and red scarf and red glasses. He towered over him by almost two heads.

(He wonders briefly if the man was a movie star.)

Yuuya offers a small smile.

"U-Um, if you could tell me what your usual is, I’ll go make it."

"A venti coffee. Black. A dash of caramel and an ice cube."

Yuuya struggles to write it all down, but it’s six in the morning and there’s an attractive man standing in front of him asking for coffee. He’s got an excuse.

"Right, um…" he hurriedly taps the cash register for the order and wonders if he should charge more for the caramel. "That’s five dollars."

The man pulls out a credit card and hands it over, and Yuuya wonders who the hell pays for a _coffee_ that’s five dollars with a shiny platinum  _credit card_.

This guy, apparently.

"Name?" he pulls the sharpie out of its holder and poises his cup at the ready.

The man’s lips twitch. “Reiji.”

He writes out R-a-y-g-e-e and slides the cup down the counter.

… Until he realizes he’s the only one working right now, and hurriedly runs over to grab it and fulfill the order as his cheeks flush in embarrassment. He goes through the motions of filling it with coffee from the machine and adding the caramel Reiji wants.

At the end of the counter, Yuuya sheepishly passes the cup over to him with a nervous laugh.

"Thank you, Yuuya," Reiji says with the hint of an amused smile, and takes it without the cardboard holder.

"No problem!" he beams a little and watches the taller man walk off. It takes him a few moments to calm down, before Yuuya reels back in shock.

"Wait, how did he know my name?!"

(Later in the day, he remembers that his uniform comes with a name tag.)

* * *

 

"How was the morning shift?" his mother asks as he trudges back into the house, all haze and sleep and no functioning brainpower left.

"Boring," he replies with a yawn.

"Well, you can’t sleep yet," she turns around to stare at him amusedly. "You have rehearsal at one, remember? It’s twelve now."

Yuuya cries silently in his head.

* * *

 

"Don’t daydream on the job."

Yuuya blinks and looks around, and checks the clock. 8:08PM. So, evening shift. At the coffee shop. Yes.

"Are you there?"

"Yes!" he stands at attention and then flushes in embarrassment. "Sorry, I’m tired."

The other barista on shift, Yuzu Hiiragi, shakes her head in exasperation and slides a finished cup of mocha to the pickup area. “Caramel Mocha for Masumi!”

"It’s not my fault," Yuuya pouts as he continues to take orders and write down names. "Yuuto had me work his shift this morning. He said he was busy."

"He’s always busy," she rolls her eyes and robotically pulls the lever for the milk. "How was the morning?"

"Slow, and boring."

"Nothing interesting happened?"

"It’s a coffee shop, I don’t know why you think anything interesting happens here," he slides another cup down the counter and takes a minute to stretch. "Just people buying coffee."

"Hmm, maybe you could have met your coffee shop romance in the morning~"

"I’m not in some weird romance novel," Yuuya makes a face. Yuzu only laughs and goes back to tending to the blenders.

"Good evening, Yuuya."

The familiar voice startles him enough to snap him out of whatever daydreaming he was planning on getting back to (despite Yuzu’s nagging voice telling him not to slack). Yuuya huffs and straightens up to meet whoever just arrived—

It’s the man from the morning. What was his name? Reggie?

He was still in his pinstripes.

"A-Ah, good evening," he stutters out of surprise. He quickly clears his throat and puts on his brightest smile for the customer. "What can I get you today?"

Reiji seems to laugh at his antics despite keeping his stoic face; the corners of his eyes shine. “The usual.”

"Coffee at eight?" Yuuya asks in surprise. Usually, anyone passing by at this time wanted frappucinos or something. "I don’t mean any disrespect, I mean—"

"It’s fine," Reiji cuts him off and offers an amused quirk of his lips. "What do  _you_ recommend, then?”

"Uh…" he’s never been asked for his opinion before. "I like the Vanilla Bean fraps? The Orange Mango smoothie is good too! Although since we’re having a promotion right now, I’d really recommend our Peppermint Mocha."

"I’ll take it," he says and takes out his wallet. "Venti Peppermint Mocha."

"Sure," Yuuya starts typing things in and grabs the cup and sharpie. "It’s—"

"Reiji," he provides. "Spelled R-e-i-j-i."

Reiji. Not Raygee. Yuuya flushes again and silently wonders if the man had a grudge against him for spelling his name so wrong. He had an excuse! It was early morning and he was half-asleep.

"Is this your normal shift?" Reiji snaps him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah!" he responds automatically. "I work six to until the store closes."

"Hmm," Reiji seems to be satisfied with his answer. Yuuya wonders why that needed to be asked.

"Is there anything else you need?"

"No," he hands over the shiny platinum credit card again and waits as Yuuya slides it through the machine and hands it back. "Thank you again."

Yuuya watches him go over to the pickup counter with a questioning face.

Yuzu casually passes by with a container of smoothie slush and smiles. “Was that your early morning love interest?”

"What? No—!"

* * *

 

Reiji comes in every day after that. Yuuya would clock in at six, Reiji would walk in at eight, ask for whatever Yuuya recommended that day, exchange small talk, and be out the door by eight thirty.

It was a weird routine that Yuuya grew more accustomed to than he would like to admit. 

(“Do you go to Maiami Univeristy?”

”Huh? Yeah. I major in Musical Theatre!”

A small smile. “What do you want to do when you graduate?”

"Broadway," Yuuya would say with the largest grin he could muster. "I want to be on Broadway!")

He learned a few things about Reiji during their small talk: he was two years older, he majored in business, minored in law, his surname was Akaba, and he had never had ice cream cake before (to which Yuuya immediately ordered one for him on the house).

"What do you recommend today, Yuuya?"

"Hmmm," Yuuya tapped the sharpie against his chin. They had practically gone through the whole menu over the course of their month together. "Maybe today you should order something you like? I recommended everything already…"

"Are you sure?" Reiji raises an eyebrow as he adjusts his glasses.

"Yeah!" Yuuya smiles and twirls the sharpie between his fingers. "Did you like anything I recommended?"

Reiji takes a moment to ponder, and Yuuya takes the moment to admire the business major in front of him. It certainly explained the pinstripes. And briefcase. And the intimidating air about him.

He wonders why Reiji takes the time to come here when he obviously looks like he could afford coffee beans that were, well,  _picked straight from Brazilian soil_. If the shiny credit card gave any indication, he probably had better things to do than hang around here.

Yuzu’s voice pops into his head again—“Maybe he’s interested in coffee shops. Maybe he’s interested in  _you_.”

He turns red at the thought and silently thanks whatever god resides up there that Yuzu had the day off today.

"—Yuuya… Yuuya?"

"Huh what?" he snaps back into reality to see Reiji’s concerned face as the mogul’s hand is suddenly on his forehead. Yuuya flushes even more.

"You’re burning, are you sick?"

"What? No, I’m okay!" Yuuya tries brushing off the incident and pretends he wasn’t about to have heart attack. Reiji frowns.

"Something clearly isn’t right. You shouldn’t go to work if you’re tired."

"I said I’m fine, honestly," Yuuya pouts and puffs up his cheeks like a chipmunk. "Just started daydreaming, is all."

Reiji has the ghost of a smile. “What things?”

” _Things_ ,” he stresses when he realizes that he just dug himself a hole. Yuuya makes an embarrassed noise and shakes off Reiji’s hand from his forehead. “What did you want?”

"Venti Peppermint Mocha," Reiji is still smiling, and Yuuya pretends he isn’t.

"The first thing I recommended?" Yuuya writes down his name on the cup and dots the middle ‘i’ with a star. "Today’s the last day we have it. You should buy one of our peppermint mocha packs!"

"Sure," he replies and reaches over to pick up one of the gaudy red packets from a nearby basket. Yuuya scans the barcode on the underside and goes through the motions with the credit card and the register. "That’s it! See you tomorrow."

Reiji takes back his credit card and moves over to the pickup counter.

"Hey wait!" Yuuya calls after him and holds up the packet of Perppermint Mocha mix. "Don’t forget your pack!"

The mogul pauses, as if contemplating something, before moving back to the cash register and holding out his hand.

"Huh?"

"Could I use your sharpie for a moment?"

"Sure," Yuuya blinks and hands it over.

Reiji picks up the red pack of mocha mix and quickly writes something on it. He ends his last pen stroke with a flourish and tapes something onto the front before sliding it back to a confused Yuuya.

"A present," he says as he places the sharpie back where it belongs.

"You don’t have to—"

"I want to," he offers a small smile and goes to grab his drink from the pickup counter. Reiji leaves without another word, and Yuuya only stares at his back with confused eyes.

"What was that about?" he shakes his head and turns the red pack of mix over. There’s a piece of paper taped to the front.

… A ticket?

“‘To Yuuya’,” he reads as he peels off the ticket. “‘Eight-thirty in front of the Broadway Theatre at 53rd Street tomorrow night. I know it’s your day off.’”

Huh, that’s nice of him. A ticket to Broadway—wait.

 _Wait_.

Was this…  _Was this a date_?!

Yuuya drops the pack of mocha mix as if it were on fire. “Ehhh?!” he shouts in the middle of the shop.

* * *

 

Yuuya arrives eight thirty-five in front of the theatre dressed in a red sweater and a black coat with some old jeans that have a hole on the knee. It’s not exactly _theatre attire_ , but in the midst of freaking out over what to wear, he threw on whatever he could get his hands on. His mother only chuckled at him as he ran out the door.

He stops in front of the theatre doors, crumpled Broadway ticket in hand, and leans over to push his hands on his knees to catch his breath. The chilly February air makes his breath come out in puffs of white smoke.

"Are you cold?" Reiji’s voice drifts to him as he straightens up again.

Reiji is dressed in a large black coat that drapes down to his thighs, and—is he wearing jeans? _Is Reiji Akaba wearing jeans_?

"Yuuya?"

Reiji Akaba is wearing jeans. Not pinstripes.

He has really long legs.

(Yuuya mentally slaps himself.)

"Yeah sorry!" he laughs nervously as he tears his eyes away from Reiji Akaba’s long legs in jeans and meets the other’s eyes. "I’m not late, am I? I kinda got lost…"

"No, you’re right on time," he replies. Reiji stays like that for a moment, before reaching up to take off the red scarf from his neck and drape it over Yuuya. Yuuya gives him a confused look. "You look cold."

"I’m okay."

He’s wearing Reiji’s scarf. The one that he never takes off no matter what. The one that he wouldn’t even let Yuuya, at first.

 _He’s definitely not okay_.

"Hm," Reiji makes a noise of amusement as he offers a hand to Yuuya. "Shall we?"

Should he take that? Were they going to hold hands?

_This is a date, right?_

He swallows the nerves in his throat and takes Reiji’s hand with a grin, completely opposite of the butterflies in his stomach. “Yeah!”

Reiji leads him into the theatre hand-in-hand, and soon Yuuya’s bravado dies as he realizes the gravity of his situation.  _He is holding hands with Reiji_.

It’s not like he doesn’t want to, because Reiji’s hands are really  _warm_ and  _large_ and  _soft_ and _he’s going to stop right there_.

It’s just—hand holding?  _Hand holding_?

"Yuuya?" the offender breaks him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?"

Reiji gestures to the stairs in front of them leading down to the seats (wait, when did they pass the ticket counter?) and tugs their clasped hands slightly. “We’re going to go down the stairs, and you’re zoning out.”

"I’m paying attention!" he protests.

"Is this bothering you?" Reiji holds up the link between them, and Yuuya notices just how much bigger Reiji’s hands are than his.

"No, not at all!" he quickly replies, afraid the other will let go. When he realizes his outburst, Yuuya pushes his face behind Reiji’s scarf and hides the oncoming blush that stretches all the way to his ears. "I mean…"

Reiji chuckles and leads him down to their assigned seats.

* * *

 

The show passes by in a blur of excitement and disbelief, where Yuuya would have jumped up and down in his seat during the performance if he could, because it was honestly  _that good_.

Reiji only lounges in his seat and watches with half-interest, more invested in observing the musical theatre student next to him absorb all of it in.

Yuuya is smiles and grins all the way through to the finale, where he would have practically burst into song with them if he could. The thrill of a performance never left him, even if he had seen more than enough shows to last a lifetime.

When the performance is over, it is Yuuya who grabs Reiji’s hand on the way out, leading the taller male to the front doors while he chatters excitedly about all that happened.

"Did you enjoy the show?" Reiji chuckles as he watches Yuuya’s antics.

Yuuya smiles and laughs, the nervousness from earlier in the night gone. “Of course!” he exclaims in happiness. “They were so great! All the props, and the set up, and the lead actors… and the songs! Do you think I could be up there someday?”

"I haven’t seen you perform yet."

"You should!" Yuuya laughs and drags him outside to the cold air. "I have a performance coming up next week. It’s hosted by the uni. You should come."

Reiji raises an eyebrow at him amusedly. “Is that an invitation for a second date?”

"Huh?" Yuuya stops in his tracks. The full force of his words hit him like a ton of bricks and he blames the red in his cheeks on winter rather than his own embarrassment. "Um… i-if… you want… I wouldn’t mind at all. Ahaha…"

"I gladly accept."

Reiji leans over to push the his scarf away from Yuuya’s face. Yuuya wonders what’s going on before he blinks and feels a pair of lips on his own and he freezes.

Ki… Ki-Kissed?

Was he being  _kissed_?

 _Oh my god_ —

In between his sudden heart attack and inability to move, Yuuya closes his eyes and leans forward a little.

Reiji’s lips are soft, kind of like the pastries they sell at the shop. As Yuuya leans in, he feels Reiji’s hands detach from his and move to slide over his back and head.

He has to stand on his toes a little to match with Reiji’s height, but that’s okay.

They lock lips for god knows how long, and Reiji pushes him further in, and Yuuya hooks his arms around the other’s neck, and this was way too much for a first date.

When they part, Yuuya is a flustered mess that can barely stutter out “R-Re-Reiji” and, to his credit, there is a light dust of pink on Reiji’s cheeks as well.

"See you next week, then?"

"Y-Y-Ye-Yes!"

Reiji smiles and plants a kiss on his forehead, and Yuuya pouts as he can’t reach up to do the same.

That’s fine.

It’s okay.

(He touches his lips sometime after he’s got back home, and thinks,  _yeah, that was great. He’d do it again_.)

**Author's Note:**

> please let me know if you enjoyed it? ;u;  
> i love comments <3


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